Body language expert analyses new Virginia Roberts interview

The woman who claims she slept with Prince Andrew as a teenager looks both ‘angry’ and ‘vulnerable’ in a new BBC interview, a body language expert said today.

Virginia Roberts has spoken out over claims she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and forced to have sex with Andrew, which the Duke of York categorically denies.

Body language expert Judi James studied three clips which have been released ahead of the long-awaited interview being broadcast on BBC One at 9pm tonight.

Ms James told MailOnline that the new videos ‘show a woman looking firstly repulsed, then angry or indignant, and lastly more vulnerable and pleading’.

But she added that Miss Roberts’s ’emotional displays are largely contained rather than over or incongruent and her vocal tone makes her sound and look assertive’.

Here, she looks at each of the three new clips in detail and gives her assessment:

CLIP ONE — ‘He is the most hideous dancer I’ve ever seen in my life’

VIRGINIA ROBERTS TRANSCRIPT: ‘We went into the VIP section. There was no waiting in the lines obviously – you were with a prince. Andrew asked me what I wanted to drink, you know, and I said oh, you know, something from the bar. 

‘He had something clear. I know mine was vodka and then he asked me to dance. He is the most hideous dancer I’ve ever seen in my life. 

‘I mean it was horrible and this guy was sweating all over me, like his sweat was like it was raining basically everywhere I was just like grossed out from it but I knew I had to keep him happy because that’s what Jeffrey and Ghislaine would have expected from me.’

ANALYSIS BY JUDI JAMES: ‘Virginia’s eye contact is interesting. She appears to be a keen communicator, sitting upright and seeming to lean slightly towards her interviewer. During the discussion of Andrew’s dancing and sweating she begins with raised brows and strong but not over-performed eye contact. 

‘She then looks down and her eyes dart to the right which can be said to be linked to creative thought, but which can also be prompted by someone selecting the right words before speaking. 

‘She then performs a prolonged eye cut-off, closing her eyes as she says he is ‘the most hideous dancer’. Cut-offs can be used to conceal the eye expression but that would tend to be more common when someone is answering a direct, ‘killer’ question, whereas here Virginia is creating her own narrative. 

‘If she is closing her eyes to internalise her thoughts to recapture the moment or even to try to reject the bad memory, her narrative makes her mouth purse into a small, mirthless laugh. 

‘She then perform mime gestures to describe how his sweat was ‘raining down on her’, looking up and splaying her fingers to mimic the ‘raining’ sweat. This comes with a small nose-wrinkle of disgust and she also mimes retching.’

CLIP TWO — ‘He knows what happened. I know what happened’ 

VIRGINIA ROBERTS TRANSCRIPT: ‘The people on the inside are going to keep coming up with these ridiculous excuses. Like his arm was elongated or the photo was doctored, or uh he came to New York to break up with Jeffrey Epstein.

‘I mean come on, I’m calling BS on this, because that’s what it is. He knows what happened. I know what happened, and there’s only one of us telling the truth, and I know that’s me.’

ANALYSIS BY JUDI JAMES: ‘During the second clip she seems to showing some suppressed anger about the ‘ridiculous excuses’ from what she calls ‘the people inside’. 

‘Her body language appears more challenging and defiant here and there is a small neck-wobble as she speaks to suggest some anger, although her vocal tone sounds assertive rather than over-emotional. She raises her index finger in a gesture of what looks like warning gesture.’

CLIP THREE — ‘This is a story of being trafficked’

VIRGINIA ROBERTS TRANSCRIPT: ‘I implore the people in the UK to stand up beside me, to help me fight this fight, to not accept this as being OK.

‘This is not some sordid sex story. This is a story of being trafficked, this is a story of abuse and this is a story of your guys’ royalty.’

ANALYSIS BY JUDI JAMES: ‘In the third clip Virginia looks slightly more vulnerable although – again – this doesn’t seem like something she is over-playing here during these clips. 

‘She uses eye contact again to suggest openness as she ‘implores’ the people of the UK to ‘stand up beside me’. Her words sound assertive here but her vocal tone sounds less assured as though she might be close to tears.’ 

Panorama: The Prince and the Epstein Scandal will be on BBC One at 9pm tonight